Harper Collins to Launch New Digital-Only Imprint in October 2013 (The Digital Reader) 94% of Parents Think Libraries are Important for Their Children (GalleyCat) Barnes & Noble Filing Explains Why Patent System is Broken (Tech Dirt) Barnes & Noble Reduces Cost of Nook Readers in UK (Good e-Reader) Kindle Daily Deals: The Vegas Knockout by Tom Schreck (and 3 others)  ...

Book Promotion Strategies That Actually Worked (GalleyCat) Amazon Refuses to Publish First Cornish-Language eBook (Tech Dirt) What Walled Gardens do to the Health of the Web (Boing Boing) HarperCollins and Hachette Disband Agency Model for UK (Good e-Reader) Kindle Daily Deals: The Flight of the Century by Thomas Kessner (and 3 others) ...

Report: Penguin to Cease Windowing Library Titles (Digital Book World) UK Government Releases New Report on Library Lending (Good e-Reader) Battle Lines Drawn in HarperCollins/Open Road eBook Suit (Publisher's Weekly) License Restrictions: A Fool's Errand (Nature.com) Kindle Daily Deals: Nate in Venice by Richard Russo (and 3 others)  ...

Google Has Ceased Publication of Frommer's Guidebooks (Good e-Reader) The Monetization Dilemma for Media (Paid Content) Scholastic Adds HarperCollins Children's Books to Storia Platform (DBW) Books aren't Dead Yet (Salon) Kindle Daily Deals: Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz (and 3 others) ...

TeleRead posted earlier about an idea that was floated by Victoria Barnsley, a HarperCollins CEO, during a recent NPR interview: the idea of charging people for the privilege of browsing in bookstores. The idea was that they'd pay to browse, and then go home and order online from the vendor of their choosing. The analogy Barnsley gave with this was that of a high-end clothing store—say, for wedding dresses—charging a nominal trying fee that is taken out of the cost of your purchase. But I think that analogy is a faulty one, and I think the true analogy demonstrates why 'pay...

The news, released today, that the San Francisco-based Inkling has decided to give away for free its "collaborative digital publishing environment" known as Inkling Habitat was probably the e-publishing community's most eyebrow-raising story of the week thus far. As Laura Hazard Owen wrote today for Paid Content, the company "has spent three years and $30 million to build Habitat, a cloud-based set of digital publishing tools that let users create and collaborate on high-quality, interactive ebooks." That sounds like fairly exciting stuff. Although if Inking Habitat actually manages to get itself off the proverbial ground over the next few months with any sort...

Apple is now the lone hold-out. As you may recall, three publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster—immediately settled, leaving Penguin, MacMillan and Apple to fight it out in court. Penguin settled in December, probably to protect their pending merger with Random House. And now Macmillan joins its fellows. Macmillan CEO John Sargent cited financial reasons for the settlement, according to this story on Publishers Lunch: "Our company is not large enough to risk a worst case judgment. In this action the government accused five publishers and Apple of conspiring to raise prices. As each publisher settled, the remaining defendants became responsible not only...

As an unabashed vending machine fanatic and someone who's been involved with the publishing industry for the better part of my adult life, I've long been intrigued by the Espresso Book Machine, owned by On Demand Books. There are currently more than seven million titles available in On Demand Books’ digital network, and on January 30, HarperCollins Christian Publishing joined the Espresso Book Machine program, making its titles available through EBM’s "digital-to-print at retail" sales channel. (HarperCollins' six-month-old expanded Christian publishing division is comprised of two formerly independent publishers, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan.) “Christian and inspirational content is an ideal fit for the EBM," said Dane Neller, CEO...

Amazon is the Devil—and I Love it (Salon) Self-Publishing Gains Ground, Acceptance (Good E-Reader) HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster Reportedly in Preliminary Merger Talks (Paid Content) Kindle Daily Deal: The Charleston Connection by Tom MacDonald {and} Promise the Night by Michaela MacColl * * *        ...

If you're one of the many e-book customers who's expecting a payment or credit as a result of the 49 states' recent $69 million settlement with HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster, you should be aware that "the states have slightly modified the way those payments will work," according to Paid Content reporter Laura Hazard Owen. In a post filed this morning, Owen detailed two of the latest modifications to the payments that were filed by the states' attorneys. (Click here to view the six-page document on Scribd.) As for the changes to the way credits will be disbursed, those modifications are fairly minimal; they probably...

• Everything You Need to Know About the Kindle Fire HD (Good E-Reader) • HarperCollins Reaches New Agreements ... on eBook Prices (NYT) • Newspapers Print Ad Losses are Larger Than Digital Gains (Poynter) • Kindle Daily Deal: Winter's Tale & Catcher's Caught...

Over the past few days, a wealth of information has surfaced regarding the $69 million settlement three of the so-called 'Agency Five' publishers will be paying to 54 states and U.S. territories for the alleged price-fixing of e-books. Still, information regarding what we consider to be two of the case's more immediately fascinating aspects—the cash refunds due to consumers, and the supposed changes this settlement (and the DOJ case in general) will ultimately have on the e-book industry—are still proving a bit tough to come by. For instance, in regards to the refunds that some consumers will be receiving: How much money, exactly, will they receive? How and when will they...